'This essay analyses Ruth Park’s Serpent’s Delight (1962) in transnational, Australian and modern contexts. Though the manifest concern of the novel is whether the visions of the Virgin Mary allegedly experienced by a pious young woman, Geraldine Pond, are genuine or fake, the novel also shows how the Pond family in general quests for a socially viable or achievable form of spirituality. After discussing the American reception of the book as a case study of its transnational visibility, the essay will discuss the specific degrees to which the novel’s social and spiritual hopes – and disappointments – are tangibly Australian and modern.' (Publication abstract)
'This essay analyses Ruth Park’s Serpent’s Delight (1962) in transnational, Australian and modern contexts. Though the manifest concern of the novel is whether the visions of the Virgin Mary allegedly experienced by a pious young woman, Geraldine Pond, are genuine or fake, the novel also shows how the Pond family in general quests for a socially viable or achievable form of spirituality. After discussing the American reception of the book as a case study of its transnational visibility, the essay will discuss the specific degrees to which the novel’s social and spiritual hopes – and disappointments – are tangibly Australian and modern.' (Publication abstract)
